It’s cool and misty outside this morning - the perfect weather for going back to work after a summer off. Summer’s spell has been broken. It’s dark at night again, and steady rain for the last 2 days tells me that the deck may not get refinished after all.

I picked up my keys from the school office, and I took a peek at my classroom. There are too many desks - more than there were last year. I counted them, and there are 28. That’s the first little clue I have about what’s coming.

The second clue about what I can look forward to came in the newspaper yesterday.

Twelve schools in the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District have been classified as “In need of improvement” based on their Adequate Yearly Progress, an assessment required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act….

My school was listed. But I’m lucky to work with a principal who doesn’t get bent out of shape over this kind of information. Still, I resent the time we have to spend talking about it.

A related story about a rural Alaksan school discrict appeared in the news a couple of days ago. But they’re not talking about students, even though they say they are. They’re talking about test scores. There’s another set of “achievement gap” data for Alaska Natives that school officials and the news media aren’t talking about : Statistical findings of the Alaska Native Commission

Despite the overwhelming disconnect between many administrators and the real world of the classroom, I’ll try to ignore the noise and focus on being the best teacher I can be. I liked Brian’s thoughts about our role in helping students with these problems as an example of Best Practices. I’m there for the kids, not their test scores, and if that isn’t good enough, they can invite me to leave like they did those Bering Straits teachers.

This is the first school year since 1999 that I haven’t had university coursework to think about. I’ll put the extra time to good use. I go back tomorrow. Meetings, greetings, and long hours rummaging through closets will be the fare. I plan to spend this last day off with my family.